Folks - the immediate posting - above midnight - was not from me.....at least I hope it was not me - however, it is a fine burlesque and parody. If it was from me - and I don't recall posting - an admission to a rehab center and testing for multiple-personality-disorder .... is in order.

My VERY first encounter with the term under discussion was through Dicken's CHIRSTMAS CAROL nothing, New England to it. (Text courtesy of Project Guttenberg)

The Phantom glided on into a street. Its finger pointed to two persons meeting. Scrooge listened again, thinking that the explanation might lie here.

He knew these men, also, perfectly. They were men of business: very wealthy, and of great importance. He had made a point always of standing well in their esteem: in a business point of view, that is; strictly in a business point of view.

"How are you?" said one.

"How are you?" returned the other.

"Well!" said the first. "Old Scratch has got his own at last, hey?"

"So I am told," returned the second. "Cold, isn't it?"

"Seasonable for Christmas time. You're not a skater, I suppose?"

"No. No. Something else to think of. Good morning!"

Not another word. That was their meeting, their conversation, and their parting.

Sincerely,
GARGOYLE